WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China-linked hackers appear to have gained access to sensitive background information submitted by U.S. intelligence and military personnel for security clearances that could potentially expose them to blackmail, the Associated Press reported on Friday.

THIS month, the headlines were about a Muslim man in Boston who was accused of threatening police officers with a knife. Last month, two Muslims attacked an anti-Islamic conference in Garland, Tex. The month before, a Muslim man was charged with plotting to drive a truck bomb onto a military installation in Kansas. If you keep up with the news, you know that a small but steady stream of American Muslims, radicalized by overseas extremists, are engaging in violence here in the United States.

The latest disturbing video from ISIS shows what the Islamist group touts as the next generation of jihadist killers, pint-sized terror trainees who appear to be as young as 5 participating in drills and reciting verses from the Koran.

The 9-minute video released Monday shows about 70 camouflage-clad kids, who are reportedly the children of foreign fighters who have flocked to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamist army. An instructor states in Arabic that most of the children are in the second phase of training and that they represent the "next generation" of ISIS. The video illustrates the charge in a UN Human Rights Council report last year that determined that Islamic State “has established training camps to recruit children into armed roles under the guise of education.”

Cairo (CNN)Two Al Jazeera journalists who'd been imprisoned in Egypt for more than a year were granted bail Thursday, with a court telling them they can await retrial away from jail in a case that has outraged journalists and activists around the globe.

An Egyptian court Thursday ordered journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed freed ahead of their retrial on charges that they supported the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Egyptian warplanes struck hard at ISIS militants in neighboring Libya a day after a sickening video surfaced showing the terror army's black-clad militants beheading 21 Coptic Christians, footage that prompted Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to vow revenge in an address to the world's most populous Arab nation.

A spokesman for the Armed Forces General Command announced the strikes on state radio Monday, marking the first time Cairo has publicly acknowledged taking military action in neighboring Libya, where extremist groups seen as a threat to both countries have taken root in recent years. The statement said the warplanes targeted weapons caches and training camps before returning safely. It said the strikes were "to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers."

"Let those far and near know that Egyptians have a shield that protects them," it said.

Washington (CNN)The top United States commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan told Congress he has provided his chain of command with options for the drawdown of troops this year that would give both U.S. and Afghan leaders flexibility as the security situation evolves on the ground.

While the United States has close to 10,000 U.S. troops currently in Afghanistan following the end of combat operations at the beginning of the year, the Obama administration has already announced plans to draw that number down to 5,500 by the end of this year.

(CNN)Marathon peace talks aimed at ending the bloody crisis in eastern Ukraine concluded Thursday in a breakthrough: A ceasefire that's due to start Sunday and an agreement for both sides to pull back heavy weapons.

If the ceasefire holds -- which is far from certain -- it could end a 10-month conflict that has claimed more than 5,000 lives, many of them civilians, and plunged East-West relations to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.

President Obama formally asked Congress on Wednesday to authorize a three-year military campaign against the Islamic State that would avoid a large-scale invasion and occupation. The offensive could include limited ground operations to hunt down enemy leaders or rescue American personnel from the Sunni militants.

A proposal sent by the White House to Capitol Hill on Wednesday would formally give the president the power to continue the airstrikes he has been conducting since last fall against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, as well as “associated persons or forces.” The measure would set limits that were never imposed during the wars of the last decade in Afghanistan and Iraq by expiring in three years and withholding permission for “enduring offensive ground combat operations.”

The widow of Chris Kyle, the protagonist in the top-selling book and hit movie "American Sniper," testified Wednesday that she "could tell something was up" the day her husband and a friend were shot to death at a rifle range.

Taking the stand in the Texas murder trial of Eddie Ray Routh, Taya Kyle recounted the last conversation with her husband, on the phone February 2, 2013.

Minsk, Belarus (CNN) Four key leaders converged on Belarus' capital Wednesday with one official mission: bringing peace to Ukraine.

Whether they can achieve that is unsure, considering the violence, bitter divisions and failed negotiations. Still, the fact that French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin made the trip to Minsk to talk peace is notable.

Military family activist Liz Snell never thought it would happen to her group: Apparent ISIS sympathizers hacked her group's Twitter account and posted threats against a half dozen or so members.

The threats came just a month after Snell told CNN she wouldn't allow the ISIS-related hack of the U.S. military's Central Command Twitter account to deter her fight to help military spouses in distress.

(CNN)Kayla Mueller, an American aid worker and ISIS hostage whose death was confirmed by her family this week, might have been paired with a male ISIS fighter during her captivity, U.S. intelligence and government officials said Wednesday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited unspecified intelligence gleaned about the case. A U.S. intelligence official said it was unclear whether Mueller was coerced, sold or forced into the pairing.